How an incredible experience can break your camera...

Swimming with a dolphin....

Not in a crappy aquarium, in the open sea...

With no other tourists around....

With the sun shining...

IN NEW ZEALAND!!


Holy hell, what a phenomenal thing to have come across out here. Out in the bay at Whakatane is a bottlenose dolphin cruising around and playing games, and i happened to be right place, right time, right everything to be able to swim with him. He dug around in the dirt at my toes, swam into me, past my legs, through my legs and played with a surfboard i pushed around for him. There were no other tourists about, no one else to bother him, just a dolphin that loved playing.

Alas, no pictures to boot as my waterproof camera i had just bought to replace my old one, didn't quite live up to its reputation of being submersible, so one quick dunk and it was dripping wet inside. But i don't mind, i would happily trade the camrea for the dolphin.

Another epic, and quite frankly, unbelievable thing that had happened to me in NZ, where ever next???

Visits from home to live in the Now...

Might be getting a visit from Claire in the next week, she is out visiting her folks in Oz, and has figured that NZ needs to be done too! Totally stoked for that, i think an injection of home comforts will do wonders for my state of mind and really pick me back up after a rough last couple of weeks. we'll have 8 days of tripping it round in my van with her friend Lyndall too who is coming over from Oz with her. Going to take it from Auckland to Wellington, taking in the East coast on the way down. I'm really keen to catch a sunrise from East Cape, the first sunrise of the new day on the planet! No-one else will be as far East as we will be so that will be really, really special for me.

I'm planning to just take it as i have done for the last 4 months on roadtrips, if we see something we want to stop for, just chirp up and we'll stop. If you get a good vibe on something, then act on it and see how it turns out; I've been taught by some very special people over here an incredibly valuable lesson:

Live in the now...

Work ethic...

It's real nice to have your hard work and ethic to a job recognised by your boss. I have been labouring on a building site for the last week and a half. Told my boss yesterday i was moving to the South island, and he was stoked for me. He shook my hand, thanked me for the work and said if i ever wanted more work, he'd hire me back in a flash. He then decided that he would bump up my pay an extra $5 an hour for the last week as a sign of his appreciation, which was awesome. Working 48hour weeks, an extra 5 each hour really makes a difference. With that in the ol' sky rocket, i'm off to buy a new camera seeing as the old one is no more!

Anawhata beach....

If you ever get to NZ, a trip to watch the sun set from Anawhata beach, just North of Piha has to be on your list.

I've been out twice in the last few days for it, and the place is just magical. Truly on e of those places where you feel completely happy, content, and fulfilled.

Magic....

Leaving OPC...

It has been a couple of weeks now since i left the Edmund Hillary OPC and my time has been filled with a huge array of working, travelling, van issues, and future plans.

Leaving OPC was hard to do. I really found another true sense of family down there, and that is a hard thing to leave behind. I looked out for others, and in turn, others looked out for me. On my good days i was able to help others, and on days when i was struggling, people were there to help me. The final week there was truly awesome for me. I spent the week itself out working with a high school group from Tuaranga, co-instructing the week with Keith, which went superbly and taught me a huge amount about myself, working with others and leading groups. I think i am at a point in my life of heightened awareness of my senses, where i am more in tune with what is happening around me. Not only that, but i am at a very reflective point in life, able to look back, deconstruct the actions i performed, the words i said, the thoughts i had and learn from them in positive ways. OPC really brought that out in me in an environment that i was both comfortable in, yet also pushing my comfort zones at times too.

I have also become much more culturally aware since being in NZ, and especially with my time at OPC. The Maori culture is one that i find fascinating, and the first culture i have looked at in this way in my life so far. This point has led to me to ask the question of why that is? I am fairly sure that it is not the fact that the Maori culture is the most captivating culture on the world that i have experienced, but that i am at my most captivated point of life so far. With this, it only seems natural for me to be totally wrapped in the cultural aspect of Aotearoa. At OPC i worked alongside a number of Maori men and women, who each taught

me a little about their culture, some more actively than others, others did it passively, whilst

some taught me with out even knowing it. I gained a huge amount both spiritually and

mentally from my time with them and i know it has shaped me as a person to have experienced

these things with them.

OPC is an experience i will look back on with fond memories, both for the things i did, but also

for the people i met; as well as looking forward with eager anticipation as i wonder where it will

lead, either directly by the contacts i have made there, or indirectly by the way it has shaped,

refined and directed me as a person. I was definately sad to leave as the people there welcomed

me with open arms and truly made me feel like home.

I met some great people, greater to me than they will ever know for what they were able to give

to me through sharing experiences and stories, good times and bad. Being in the workshop was

another family I have found out here, one which welcome d me in, watched me grow, guided me

with the deftest touch, but only when it saw i was not releasing my full potential. Toney and

John and honestly two of the most awesome guys; they have taught me so much

but not in conventional ways. The learning process was that of guided self learning, with only a

small amount of external input when it was deemed necessary. i got fully immersed in several

projects, and gave them my all. One of which was a shed renovation. The shed was a dirty

canvas, ragged around the edges and needed touching up, but the fence i built was a different

story altogether; a completely blank canvas, for which i chose everything and made it my own.

When it was finished, it looked awesome, so much like the image i had in my head, so much

like the fence i wanted to produce to do John proud and to show him that his faith in me was

accurate, deserved and unfaltering. It truly was mine and i am deeply proud of what it stands

for.

Upon leaving the workshop for the final time, i produced some gifts for John, Toney and Shelly

to show how much i appreciate what they have done for me. On this trip to the other side of the

world, i don't have much, and therefore i don't have much to give either, but what i can give is

love, time, care and respect. All those things went into the gifts i had made for these three that

had given me so much in many ways. For John, i had painted my signature sunset style on a

piece of wood, but this time i overlaid the image of two trees reflecting in a lake under the

watchful eyes of two mountains. On tree was there to represent John, and the other was me.

They were also there to signify my two big projects, the fence and the shed build, both of which

were heavily dependant on wood for their completion. I really hope John can look at this and

know what it is that i fwlt whilst i was there, and what he means to me.

For Toney and Shelly, i made a piece of driftwood in the shape of a mountain, and on this i

tied an Maori fishing knot that Toney uses of his carvings when he makes them. This knot is

not something that Toney sat down and taught me, for when i enquired about it he said it was

passed down through the Maori culture from father to son through the ages. I was more than

happy to respect this, and instead of pushing him i used my skills and knowledge to look at

what he had tied and deconstructed it in my head, and then reconstructed it on the piece of

driftwood for him. I took several hours of tireless trial and error to get it right but when i did,

the sense of achievement was immense. In completing it, it brought me one step closer to the

understanding of aspects of the Maori culture. On the driftwood i also had made a necklace

for Shelly, and i tied this on in my way, so that the know representing Toney was next to the

necklace for Shelly, so that when you looked at the piece, it was Toney and Shelly, side by side

under the mountain that they love so much. It also had the contrast of the Moari knot against

the my knot, tied in Black cord, whilst Toney's knot was tied in natural hemp, which i liked as

it shattered the racial barriers which are present in Maori heritage, using white to represent

Maori, and black to represent the European. I do not mean any disrespect with this symbol,

but instead use it to show the times are changing and there can be coexistence, not conflict.

I am so proud of the way both pieces turned out, for my love is also within each of them, and

that can never be lost. The way in which they were received blew me away too. John was pretty

choked to receive his, and gave me a hug and told me to stay safe and come back soon. If that

didn't rock me enough, then the way that Toney and Shelly received their's blew me away even

more. Toney was so stoked with it, and i could see he was proud of me for having created

something from the heart for them. With that, he spoke to me in Maori, and then gave me a

hongi, a traditional Maori greeting, pressing one's nose to another. This is really symbolic,

and meant so much to me. In the hongi, the 'ha' or breath of life is exchanged and intermingled,

and the huge part of this is that through the exchange of the hongi, you are no longer

considered a 'manuhiri' (visitor) but rather 'tangata whenua', one of the people of the land.

This is massive for me, and really brought it all home to me about what it is that i had been

through to get to this point. A hongi from Toney was intense, so much part of his culture,

that to share it with me blew me away. He almost looked as if he was close to tears, and i

know i was but we both held it together.

Shelly was amazing too, giving me such a big hug, and speaking to me in Maori, thanking me

and sending love to me for all i do. She then said something that even know, to think back, a

smile creeps over my face. She said

"You get it, not everyone does, but you do"

Looking at those words now, the words in their own entity seem small but their meaning for

me is massive. They see me and the potential, the understanding, the love and the vision that

i have and know that i will be great with it. It was a stunning end to a wonderful placement

with incredible people...